Pottsgrove Policy To Specify Field Trip Cost Coverage

POTTSTOWN PA – The phrase “pay as you go” may take on new significance in the Pottsgrove School District as its Board of School Directors prepares to revise a policy regarding district payments or reimbursements for field trips.

A board committee recommended changes last Tuesday (Feb. 12, 2013) to clarify what field trip costs Pottsgrove will and won’t cover, and which groups qualify for them, due to what Superintendent Shellie Feola characterized as “inconsistencies and confusions” regarding past trips and reimbursements.

The existing nine-page policy, found here on the district website, was created in August 2002 and last amended in January 2008. It extensively details what trips are permissible, how they are requested, chaperoned, and conducted. It also generally advises that “trips must be reasonably priced and costs must be covered by the students participating, unless the trip is for an approved competition.”

As past practice, however, policy guidelines have been stretched under some circumstances, Business Administrator David Nester indicated when he raised the issue with directors in January. He requested revisions that specifically addressed expenses for competitions that were educationally related but non-athletic.

The committee suggested the district:

Pay only for transportation and adviser costs (including advisers’ lodging, if necessary) for board-approved state and local competitions. Students will be responsible for paying their own entry fees, food, lodging and any other expenses;

Pay all costs for board-approved national or out-of-state competitions;

Recognize as qualified for payment field trips involving the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association, the Mock Trial team, DECA marketing club, Pottsgrove’s chapter of the Technology Student Association, the Academic Quiz Team, Science Olympiad, and the Future City and Lego Robotics teams; and

Specify that any additions to the list of recognized groups must be approved by the board in advance.